@@roundedges2 I’m not familiar with the weather in China. Does it snow there a lot? I imagine the Chinese were used to it long before the British came along, flagging their rough spun wool.
@@roundedges2 actually people of mangolia wear Bear fur in winter , and women wore fox fur as luxury and statues sympol , they did have wool so they didnt need to import it
@@attackpatterndelta8949 northen regions in china does have snow, they basically near russia and mangolia nations known for their cold weather , but also they have deserts and forests , china is just too big they have every land scape
Show called Sliders. Season 2. One episode Professor Arturo asks, “do you know why the sun has never set on the British empire? Because not even god trusts those bastards in the dark.”
We once asked my mother, born in 1924, who our wealthiest ancestor was. She said she had a great great aunt who owned a line of clipper ships. Only after reading about the Opium Wars I surmised that basically she was a smuggler and drug dealer. The batteries they mentioned as ineffective were cemented in place and could not be aimed. Duh.
@@wolfu597 When you read about a Chinese treasure found in an Englishman’s garden, you know where it came from. The French were the worst though. They burned so much precious silk and smashed statuary. The British soldiers were under orders not to loot. Well . . . My girlfriend is Chinese and this is part of her nation’s memories.
@@martinphilip8998 And I think you're referring to the destruction of the Imperial Summer Palace? I agree with you that it was a despicable act. But the reason for this, was how the Qing forces had treated the 26 members of a delegation that had tried to open up negotiationm but ended up being captured by the Qing forces outside the Imperial capital. The delegation were held in captivity for less than a month, but when they were released, 15 of the delegations members had died. From starvation, torture and malnutrition. When the Western soldiers saw the condition of the survivors and heard what had happened to the rest of the delegation members, they went into a rage, and wanted to ransack and burn down the entire capital city. But lord Elgin convinced that they needed to go after the Emperor instead. And since the Qing courts weren't taking the Western powers seriously, they decided to destroy the Summer palace complex. A dishonorable act indeed, but it was the lesser of two evils.
I never really knew how HK was ceded to the British until I bumped into this channel. Great summary of the Opium war history in 36 mins! I learned from the local that this was one of the greatest humiliation to the Qing dynasty. The emperor was painted with a very different story of what was actually happening on the ground by the generals. In movies, emperors were portrayed as useless and only busy with all the concubines. Their failure to reform brought their own downfall. It's a very dark period in Chinese history. Very sad.
In Qing dynasty China was ruled by Manchu ethnicity, one of the 56 in China. Manchu has only 10 millions population and represents 0.7% of the Chinese population today. The real China is nothing like the Manchu. With the modern communication no foreign power can do to China like what they did in 1900s.
@@veronicalogotheti5416 That is the English speaking world control on media too. The winner doesn't always right or just. The world come to know it gradually. The misinformation now fires back at the English speaking countries by telling them everything China does is bad, wrong, evil, corrupted and authoritarian.so the right way is to do things opposite to China. Well China this time get the covid control right and the English-speaking countries are now in pieces. Today US, UK and Australia have population anti-science, bend on doing what the government wants, protesting against wearing a mask, taking a test, doing social distancing, obeying lockdown and even against vaccine all at the height of a pandemic. Open your eye and you will see your "winner" is degenerating into a "loser". If you don't recognise a mistake you will never correct it and the mistake will persist. US has been claiming victory and helping Afghan to build a democratic country over 20 years in Afghanistan too.
@@theccpisaparasite8813 TH-cam search drug dealers in doctor clothings. Here's the situation people face: 1). Walk into your doctor's office for a light illness or pain, doctor prescribes you some "pain reliever" that will relieve your pain. 2). Go home, and take one of those meds every morning. Soon, you'll get a tolerance to that level/amount of medication, so you'll up the dose due to your body naturally needing more to get anything out of it. 3). Addiction. Since those opioids are highly addictive, you've managed to unknowingly step into a mass addiction process. This will only increase your demand for those medication, not by choice, but by the body's addiction. 4). You go back to doctor, in order for more pills since you have an addiction to them. Doctor says "Sure, I'll give you some more" and afterwards you pay the regular price, and gain an even heavier addiction. So the cycle continues. 5). Producer of said drugs decided that in order to make some BIG bucks, they pull out nearly ALL of the intended supply going there, and by basic laws of Supply & Demand, the price of said drugs goes ROARING up into the skies, selling even at hundreds of dollars per pill bottle. 6). People are addicted to said drug, and will have withdrawal symptoms. Since they have these symptoms, they'll buy more medication at the price the company/pharmacy is charging... until, they can't. 7). A mass of people suffer from withdrawal symptoms, have both life breaking medical and financial damages, and overall their life gets sh*ttier than it already was. I'd like to remind you, that these aren't some drug skipping hardcore rap pablo escobar people, these are just simple mountain folks in WV who probably don't even believe in the legalization of pot. Snow Miser. . 1 day ago. . @cmdmd Here's the situation people face: 1). Walk into your doctor's office for a light illness or pain, doctor prescribes you some "pain reliever" that will relieve your pain. 2). Go home, and take one of those meds every morning. Soon, you'll get a tolerance to that level/amount of medication, so you'll up the dose due to your body naturally needing more to get anything out of it. 3). Addiction. Since those opioids are highly addictive, you've managed to unknowingly step into a mass addiction process. This will only increase your demand for those medication, not by choice, but by the body's addiction. 4). You go back to doctor, in order for more pills since you have an addiction to them. Doctor says "Sure, I'll give you some more" and afterwards you pay the regular price, and gain an even heavier addiction. So the cycle continues. 5). Producer of said drugs decided that in order to make some BIG bucks, they pull out nearly ALL of the intended supply going there, and by basic laws of Supply & Demand, the price of said drugs goes ROARING up into the skies, selling even at hundreds of dollars per pill bottle. 6). People are addicted to said drug, and will have withdrawal symptoms. Since they have these symptoms, they'll buy more medication at the price the company/pharmacy is charging... until, they can't. 7). A mass of people suffer from withdrawal symptoms, have both life breaking medical and financial damages, and overall their life gets sh*ttier than it already was. I'd like to remind you, that these aren't some drug skipping hardcore rap pablo escobar people, these are just simple mountain folks in WV who probably don't even believe in the legalization of pot.
This is exactly the video for which I've waited for years. It's quite well done with detail and background, but so not long as to lose the one watching. I'm neither British nor Chinese, but the story appears to be told from a relatively unbiased perspective.
Unbiased? The "honourable" east India trading company? The British lost 15, the Chinese lost 1500. The British saluted their honourable defense. This is clearly a British take on what happened.
This account from the video is not at all"unbiased" it is a sanitized version of history to make the English look good. It has left out many significant facts and details. Typical English colonial rewrite of history.
@01:59 conquest of India was definitely not costly. British citizens didn’t lose a soldier nor taxes. It was mostly won by other Indian troops, under east India company that paid for it all by plundering Indian kings. It wasn’t out of a necessity, they did it out of pure greed.
What always stuck me about the conquest of the Raj was that 150 million Indian's were ruled by 5,000 British, the mob is the power but they couldn't put their petty differences aside to cast us out. Replies most welcome.
@@paulgraham8280 if you looked at india you would understand why it happened , first unlike india , china had majoriy han ethical group who allowed minority machurains and mangolians to rule them cuz they had formed some kind alliance over year , ALSO unlike multi religious india , china was prodominaitly buddists and taoist which very similar to each other , BUT india have mulitple religions that been in battle with each others even before the british , and british use divide and concque so it was easier for them to take over already divided india then china who were majority people of same han group
@@sakurakou2009 well said.The conflict occured between muslims and hindus after they both vanished Buddhism from Indian subcontinent. The britishers got a lot of advantage from the the Divide and Rule (muslims vs. Hindus)...Then it was just a matter of time to conquer south-east Asia and China.
@@walkwithmisuk ....it was never about religion....it was competing interests....hindu rajputs took help from brits against hindu marathas....Muslim Nizam n Muslim Tipu Sultan were enemies n nizam took British help......
Next, the definition of a drug dealer is a person who sells illegal drugs. The UK only did these things before 1900s instead of now and it is not illegal. In addition, your "victim" which is Qing also allow opium instead of opium tobacco, since both side allow opium trade to happen, then all that exists is a trade relationship, there's nothing illegal about it.
The Opium trade made it possible for USA to begin the Industrial Revolution, where the railroads was built on the addiction of the Chinese. For example Franklin D. Roosevelt, where the D. came from Delano was from the part of his family that was rich since those days. I'm not sure what the Opium Wars made possible for Britain, but I can imagine it was similar.
Thank you for this documentary on the first Opium War. Until I watched your video, I've never had much interest in knowing about this war. Well, now I want to know more, about both wars. Thank you.
when we were in secondary school in hong kong (colonial era) it was called “Sino-British War”, i am still puzzling how these war were named why Sino-British and sometimes Anglo-Chinese... Also the view point on the same war in difference lesson is slightly different. Like in Chinese history lesson which taught in Chinese, it is a drug war, simply “opium war”, not “sino-british war” whatsoever, it was an invasion from foreign power, violation of sovereignty shit and such. In world history lesson which taught in English entirely it was more like a trade war, focusing on treaties, silver, deficit, east india company and such... It was interesting to see how the same thing was interpreted. (btw, the world history book was way fucking thicker.... what a nightmare)
Yes!! When I learned about this war for the second time in North America, it was taught from the "the Chinese weren't treating the British as equals in the trade relationship, so we had to fight" perspective, which was super different from when I learned it the first time on the other side of the ocean (where the story was centered around opium). I find the temporal and geographic variations in the framing of the war to be suppperrr intereseting :'D
This was one of the most well hidden pieces of history I've ever come across. A shop owner told me about all of this and that is how I found out about this.
@@goatvision6908 I'm pretty sure 70% of the british population now doesnt know this history. Just like how many americans now don't know why the civil war was fought. Very sad that our youth nowadays does not have interest in history.
@@spankme8484 Julia Lovell's book is good but inverts the paradigms in operation. Basically in all retrospective analysis it is important to refer to present day trading patterns to see how relative security of the players is maintained. This is not done in any book that I know of. All start from the premise that western firepower was so overwhelming that the advantage was comprehensively on the side of the outside players. This was also the situation in Viet Nam. Consider yourself a clipper skipper. My Great great grandfather was a clipper skipper and his logs are with me. His concerns were scurvy and sailors. The opium delivery was a small part of his concern because the Chinese looked after everything from the port onwards. I don't think he even landed in Canton. Straight into cutters from the hold. Might have been a busy day there. The point is that even if they had made landfall then what would they have done? Run about looking for a buyer without the language? Imagine arriving with a ton of Japanese medicine in France and then trying to distribute it. It would be hard to avoid engaging Frenchmen to help. Pretty soon the helpers would be able to take over the business. Distribution is always where the best margins are.
@@Allgood33 I assume that in the video, the "1,000 year old civilization" was china itself, rather than the Qing dynasty. As china has been a civilization for over 3,000 years. obviously the Qing dynasty (1636 - 1911) was not 1,000 years old, in which case you would be right. But I guess we will never know what exactly he meant.
🤨 💭 Hmmm Oooh lord🤦♂️!… Any story about about Western nations invading Asia, Africa, America, Middle East, Pacific, etc… always excruciating… Afterwards, they’d send Priests into that territory to continue spread their evil spirits… Western civilization acting like world police officers but they’re the robbers, thieves, criminals, etc…
You thought it was? Seriously? I don't even think they thought of themselves as honorable. It was simply a case of a technologically and militarily superior society thinking of a more backward and primitive society as totally inferior 'barbarians'. Hell the same attitude prevailed at the Chinese Imperial Court. This was a war that the British greed and desperation made inevitable. Not to excuse the British actions but I don't see how it was avoidable on either end. These were simple-minded men without vision. I think that this behavior was absolutely endemic in all human cultures until ... WWII which should have been a wake up call. Which it was in Europe and the America and most English-speaking peoples. I think parts of Asia still don't get it. The Russians didn't until the 80's. This is the century where, unfortunately, China will have to be taught that lesson.
@@jagdpanther2224 the truth of that is debatable, but I definitely agree with the operative word "were" thank your agreeing with me. The CCP _is_ and two world wars should have taught them that its wrong.
@@theccpisaparasite8813 Good luck with that and try taking off your western colored glasses they are giving you a skewered view of history and the present.
@@damonoid781history is history. It will do u well not to forget what your countries did to Asia during colonial times. Telling asians to forget it is similar whitewashing by the west
The colonial powers may have started unfair wars once and again (the Boers war, Congo belge, France in half of Africa, Spain in Cuba and Santo Domingo, the USA in 1898 in Cuba, the Germans in Tanzania...), but there are no other shameless wars than the opium wars, it was and still is the worst we could have offered to the world. And so many landmarks in HK are still named after a drug kingpin is absolutely pathetic (Jardine's Lookout, Jardine's house, Jardine's crescent...). You imagine Escobar palace, Escobar Avenue or Escobar peak in Colombia?
Thank you for your video and the depth of research into the Opium War. A drug pushing country with modern technology can get their way. Qing dynasty was destined to fall, but her fall also usher in a century of humiliation for one of the world's greatest civilization. A true wake up call for China to speed up technological advancement.
And yet the CCP had forgotten the genesis of the Opium Wars, namely, a country cannot blindly pursue mercantilist policies without serious consequences. I opine that if the Qing emperor engaged in balanced trade then there were be no need for the British to sell opium to China in order to reduce the trade imbalance.
Emperor Quinalong blindly rejected the exchange of tea for the British scientific and manufactured products. He saw no purpose in these items. Hence the backwardness. 50% of fault is on the Qing side.
I find this extremely hard to watch. We owe China, Japan owes China. No wonder we have such a hard time negotiating with them, what we did was unforgivable. I have become fascinated by Chinese history, its people are incredible.The opium trade was disgusting. Recently, I tried to watch a movie about the rape of Nanking - such an atrocity. I could only watch for a very short time so heartbreaking. The Chinese people have truly suffered. I hope they never forgive Japan for what they did. Neither should Korea.
I didn't know much of Chinese history and only heard the phrases rape of Nanking and opium wars. I too find this deeply distressing. I wish the Chinese people the best and admire their diligence in the face of sanctions on semiconductor chips by the USA and the smearing of China and the constant provocation by the west regarding the Taiwan issue.
Your "victim" which is Qing also allow opium instead of opium tobacco, since both side allow opium trade to happen, then all that exists is a trade relationship, there's nothing illegal about it.
@@vapaus831 so the west agreed to do business with China on the terms of sharing technology, ( allowed to use cheap Chinese labour to manufacture and to sell in the China market etc, )why is it the west repeatedly say China stole their technology.
This is War is where the Chinese saying "if progress is behind, then others will beat you up" (落后就会挨打) had originated from. This the biggest motivation and a continue source of nationalism in China from then to now.
@@frankieseward8667 not really the Qing dynasty was falling in it last years even before the british , cuz they were trying to hold to their old way and not catch up to modernization , look at japan for example , japan quickly became monster when they modernized and tried to catch up with new technology , but japan at that time relies that they couldnt do it with their small island and wanted new land thus invading their neighbors to imitate european imperialism in asia , IF it was china who relies that and did what japan had did , china in my opinion could have became much larger then british empire or even russian empire
@@frankieseward8667 of course ancient chinese were as imperialistic as anyone else , they letterly called Empire , Qing where imperialistic as anyone of their time were , their was no nations and country borders back then , your borders is how far your army can extend , and this not bad thing , cuz securing land mean securing your people have enough food and wealth to keep them feed and well , main reason europeans did their conquests cuz europe was poor in natural resources and they were poor that why once they invaded the americas the whole of europe changed , if I was citizen of poor country and only was for my people yo survive is by invading someone else home I would do it , fuck them this is survival battle . BUT once two nations come to agreement and Sign peace and acknowledge each others BORDERS , then one who break the peace is at false cuz they agree on the terms.
Thanks for this wonderful video on a topic that's so indispensable for understanding modern China. Learned a lot and listing the sources is very helpful! I wonder how differently the Opium war is taught in different countries :P
The historiography of the war changes greatly from Britain to China. In China, the defeat in the war is easily identified as the start of the century of humiliation, concessions forced in unequal treaties and the rapid decline of imperial authority. In Britain it was a Tuesday -- by which I mean, Britain was fighting someone, somewhere in the world in every year of Queen Victoria's reign so the war's importance is very much dilluted and diminished in the context of so many other colonial wars and episodes of gunboat diplomacy.
They don’t teach this in the US schools, it’s shines a negative light on the west. European powers have been brutal to countries they invade. corporate greed has not changed.
They don’t teach the about the Opium War in the UK, it is just seen as some other irrelevant War to us. We are mostly taught about domestic British history in school, really the only international British history we are taught is WW1 and WW2. The opium war isn’t that important to us the way it is to China.
The letter from Lin Zexu actually contained that he is not pretty sure that China has a war with British. And you guys should think one more about the role of Elliot. Read this book: "Creating the Opium war: British imperial attitudes towards China, 1792-1840" by Gao in 2020.
The Opium War was just one continuous curb stomp after another. The Qing navies with their wooden junks didn’t really stand a chance against Royal Navy iron stream ships and ships of the line.
Interesting documentary on a war that started because of drugs. But I think that the biggest tragedy for the Qing dynasty was the refusal of it's imperial court officials to learn from the defeats they suffered in this war. This war proved to the world that China was militarily weak, and I think that played a major part in the reason why other European nations joined Britain in the second Opium war!
@@ktttttt No, it doesn't. But it shows how important it is to stand up to bullies. And keep one thing in mind: there is always someone bigger, better, and stronger than you.
@@wolfu597 Err you mean like how China surpasses England in economy now? Personally I think it was a huge mistake for China to underestimate the west and for the west to underestimate China in turn. If the west hadn't underestimated China (and Asia actually) afterwards, Pearl Harbour wouldn't have been so easily bombed, China's economy won't be the second biggest right now (and probably the future biggest)
@@ktttttt Maybe, maybe not. But no one knows what the future holds in store for them. Right now, the West are being led by Left wing politicians who are more concerned about virtue signaling than their own people. But, as history has shown us, things change.
Id say one of the most humiliating provision of the the treaty of Nanking was the Qing government had to give amnesty to Chinese citizens who betrayed china and asisted the British during the conflict.
After watching this video, perhaps one would have a better understanding on why China has very strict laws against drug related crimes. Recently, it just sentenced a Canadian guy to death for smuggling around 220 kilograms of meth in China, the threshold for death sentence in leading a drug smuggling business is 50 grams...
Even in the west, 220kg of meth would put you away for 20 years to life. Most Asian countries have harsh punishment, including death penalty for drugs. Just look at japan or even South Korea. Some sk celebrity admitted to smoking a joint while in USA or something and when they came back to SK, they were arrested and socislly outcast. Fired from their job and contracts, and iirc, also had to make a very public apology to the whole country. Even China doesn't go that far. Finally, meth is a very destructive drug and cannot be compared with weed, or even opiates which both have long, legitimate medical uses while meth is seen as a scourge by everyone, even its users and addicts.
Singapore has a Similar Drug Law... you get Caught Smuggling in ANY KIND or AMOUNT of an ILLEGAL DRUG, and they HANG YOU (it's ZERO Tolerance) !!! Did it to a 22-year old Woman WITH a BABY... HANGED HER... shortly after her, THREE GUYS from the UK tried to Smuggle In Drugs, got Caught, and HANG'ed... (ouch)... !!!
In 1729, Yongzheng ordered a ban on smoking, but what was banned was the mixture of tobacco and opium - what we commonly call "Madak", not the opium itself. Opium imports are still used as medicinal materials.
Then, let me give you more informations, Opium was considered as an herbal medicine, but it was not widely used. Moreover, in the eyes of the British, opium is not a drug at all but a sleeping pill and entertainment items. Moreover, the concept of drugs was not established at the beginning of the 19th century.
after the Opium War, Lin Zexu also advocated planting native opium in China to reduce the dependence on foreign opium. (In this way, things like opium smuggling can be avoided, and Western opium can be prevented from entering the Chinese market from the source. While preventing the outflow of silver, it can not only increase national income, but also reduce the cost of opium smokers.) Therefore, the main reason for the launch of the Opium War was economic problems rather than drug problems.
In 1729, Yongzheng ordered a ban on smoking, but what was banned was the mixture of tobacco and opium - what we commonly call "Madak", not the opium itself. Opium imports are still used as medicinal materials.
fun fact during the battle of zhenjiang a young james fitzjames was wounded, he would later go missing in the canadian arctic as part of the franklin expedition
The Chinese talked as if they had everything they needed, so they were shown they were in need of a way to protect themselves in a manner not relying on spears.
18:43 According to wiki, the Convention of Chuenpi was not signed. It was not regarded as valid by both governments. Hong kong was therefore technically illegally occupied by the British without a proper treaty, until the Treaty of Nanking in August 1842. The name Pottinger would much more likely to be pronounced without a glottal stop, thus Pottin-ger rather than Potting-er two centuries ago. The 'Gough' in General Sir Hugh Gough is probably 'gof' similar to cough, not the hard German or Dutch 'gh' in van Gough. 😊
@@cameronsam8641 Haha, I only by chance walked past Pottinger St. a couple of days ago. It's only a small street to remember the first governor of Hong Kong in 1843.
One thing to take into consideration is that most of the numbers related to British casualties come from the British reports, which were also probably not that trustworthy. The majority of the British force constituted of Indian colonial troops and the "low casualty" figure seems to fit the colonial narrative of the "European exceptionalism" (like that of the colonization of the American continent, when we often read about the few hundred spaniards who conquered this and that empire, completely ignoring the hundreds of thousands of native allies they had). And were those Indian troops taken into consideration? That I cannot fully answer, but when we put into perspective, I truly think not. Nowadays, one can find British monuments for the fallen dogs of WW1, but not for the many Indian soldiers who died fighting for them. The same for the French and other major European powers whose military forces had a substantial contingent of African and Asian colonial soldiers. They rarely show(ed) up in statistics.
That's what I initially thought, however it is true that excellent British strategy combined with far superior firepower allowed the British forces to rout the Qing armies easily, suffering only minor losses. In addition, the strict organisation of a modern army most likely wouldn't allow embellished reports to be produced as in previous century. It seems that most casualties of the war were Indian troops who suffered from dysentry contracted in China (over 500 deaths). We'll never know exact numbers for sure, but we can be certain that the British suffered very few casuatlies in the First Opium War.
I wonder what that thing half way down Rajpath in Delhi is? The Chatri at Brighton. The memorial at Haifa. The Neuve Chapelle memorial in France. The memorial at Zehrensdorf, in Germany, The Pietta memorial. There are many more. Memorials in Australia often mention Indian troops. So too in Canada. To suggest that dogs are memorialised and not Indians is blatant propaganda. It is not true in the slightest. You are just making things up out of the blue.
Hi! I really like your documentary so I used it as one of my sources for a school project. In order to source this documentary I need the author or directors name, may I ask what it is? Thanks. Edit: source it as in, for my bibliography in MLA format
Who would have thought that the government of Britain would have sanctioned, and supported with its military, the effort of drug pushers? What country comes to another country and insists on trade through force. After such a defeat, China turned inward and worked hard to become a mighty country by learning from loss and humiliation and experiencing the unthinkable gall of the British nation. Thank you for the great video.
Britain, and later America, have been the bully boys of the world. In school we are taught history that the government wants you to learn, it isn't until later in life you realise that you wasn't educated, you were indoctrinated. It really is an eye opening experience learning true historical facts.
Opium has been known and grown in China centuries before the Dutch or English trade. Opium was considered as an herbal medicine, but it was not widely used. Moreover, in the eyes of the British, opium is not a drug at all but a sleeping pill and entertainment items. Moreover, the concept of drugs was not established at the beginning of the 19th century. Lastly, after the Opium War, Lin Zexu also advocated planting native opium in China to reduce the dependence on foreign opium. So this is all about the the economy.
@@cameronsam8641No, because the British brought the idea of democracy and freedom to us. Secondly without the British, HongKong is just a fishing village.
AT 2:00 you start the story by saying opium is illegal, and then at 3:00 you introduce an emperor that first made opium illegal after it was already illegal. which is it?
In 1729, Yongzheng ordered a ban on smoking, but what was banned was the mixture of tobacco and opium - what we commonly call "Madak", not the opium itself. Opium imports are still used as medicinal materials.
Fantastic video! I never realised how much nuance there was to this part of history … It is fascinating to hear how much damage was caused by both accidental and deliberate miscommunication … and how hard decent people tried to prevent it … At school we were taught this period in black and white - here, you present it in glorious colour! Just brilliant. Well done!
@@History_of_China Please have a look on this source, after have a reading on it, please tell me whether you will withdraw the video. Frank Dikötter, Lars Peter Laamann, and Xun Zhou, Narcotic Culture: A History of Drugs in China (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004)
@@History_of_China okay, so your use of the phrase 'condemned to death' is accurate, but it could be misleading since usually when someone is officially condemned to death the sentence, as most people would assume, is carried out unless specified otherwise, and the consequence could be if people are mislead that they think the Qing court was less humane than they would otherwise assume but at least it's good you clarified in the TH-cam comments section not trying to nitpick, but I think this is important constructive criticism
Lesson learnt. Technology wins at the end of the day. British had cannons and guns. Chinese armies had swords and spears. It’s checkmate. What’s ironic is that the brits forces China to pay repatriation cost to cover the Brits military expenses. Now that’s a war rape! I guess now the modern China learns to invest heavily in technologies. Does anyone think one day China would colonise British as pay back and get them to pay a repatriation costs ? That would be interesting.
The gap wasn't even that wide. It wasn't like colonial conquests in South Africa or the New World. The Chinese had cannons and guns. A century ago, they very well could have won. It just goes to show the immense impact even a relatively slight technological difference can have. That's the power of the Industrial Revolution.
@@animation1234111 Think you didn't read up the topic well. Most Qing soldiers were armed with muskets and cannons with lower range. While the British marines had bolt action rifles and cannons with higher range. Please read up abit before you comment. The technological gap is significant.
@@macrick I never said it wasn't. OP contrasted Chinese "swords and spears" with British had "cannons and guns". I clarified the Chinese also had "cannons and guns", albeit more primitive ones. While the hap in technology was significant, it wasn't as significant as OP is saying. Misrepresenting people doesn't make you look more intelligent.
I appreciate your honest perspective on Britains use of their superior military power to overpower Chinese government efforts to turn the Chinese people into drug addicts, thus creating a huge market for their opium produced in India by the native population there, having used superior military power of the EIC Army to enslave that population also. Before the USA Empire invading countries around the world in the quest for more oil, and other resources and for other insidious contrived “reasons”. Violent Regime change of legitimate elected governments, starting wars we never win, so that they run for 20years , and starting proxy wars that decimate the very nation we supposedly are helping. Millions of Asian and Middle Eastern civilians murdered by the US military superior forces since the US started using nuclear bombs, or the threat of, on other nations. The vast majority of American citizens have been steadily opposed for decades against such US actions, such actions pursued only to enrich the MIC and elite class 2% in America. Easy to see why the US and UK are always partners in crime.
Even tho you are right and it is despicable… I cannot stop myself of being fascinated by the british. How were they so powerful that they literally conquered all the world? How were they already so sophisticated when the other part of the world was still in post monkey phase? Living almost like animals instead in England u have already big houses and businesses… what was the power point of such succes? Always been curious (maybe the parlament? Oligarchs vs imperiors around the world?)
@@timoc5880 Most members of the British Parliament belong to the upper class. They are the ones who sent those soldiers who most likely belong to the working class to invade and kill.
This series is great, and very informative but much of the closed captioning language recognition program is distracting and embarrassing, a bit of editing would be priceless.
So, did you also know that Yongzheng ordered a ban on smoking in 1729, but what was banned was the mixture of tobacco and opium - what we commonly call "Madak", not the opium itself. Opium imports are still used as medicinal materials.
Opium was considered as an herbal medicine, but it was not widely used. Moreover, in the eyes of the British, opium is not a drug at all but a sleeping pill and entertainment items. Moreover, the concept of drugs was not established at the beginning of the 19th century.
In 1729, Yongzheng ordered a ban on smoking, but what was banned was the mixture of tobacco and opium - what we commonly call "Madak", not the opium itself. Opium imports are still used as medicinal materials.
Thank you for the video... quickly makes your realise that the world's anti-china regime is based on fear of self and insecurity. Firstly, the lack of understanding of the language leaves a lot of room to the Western commoner to construct all of his own fears within that space of his consciousness. The British East Incdia Cmpany, as too the Dutch East India Company comprised of a bunch of tiny, insecure men, who need to see power and destructio over and of other human beings in order to feel content.
Excellent point about the lack of understanding of China in the west. The knowledge of China in the west is abysmal and I think this boils down to not understanding the language or Confucian culture of China. I think the Chinese classics should be studied in western schools.
That's a complete load of horseshit. The east India company might have had an incompetent leadership at times, it was occasionally cruel. But its motive was trade. It used its power to achieve this objective. The idea that this company and its officials did all of this 'in order to feel content' is absurd. It was a huge company with its own army, navy, its own currency and it ran at least one entire country (India). The reason I am taking issue with your post is that the east India company inflicted a crushing defeat upon china, then negotiated its requirements with china. Sure, Hong Kong was taken, but apart from setting up a few local municipal governments in places like Shanghai, essentially, the British withdrew from china. 99.999 % of china was run by the Chinese, at least at the time of the first opium war. It wasn't a world war two type situation, with the Japanese endlessly in occupation, torturing and raping their way across the country. It was pretty much the exact opposite of that.
The more I learn of history and politics, along with their clandestine and under-the -table goings on, the more I think that many countries governments are no better than drug lord’s and gun runners.
Exactly. No better that people today still can't understand the criminality of he past and see it from the victim's perspective. Sad and arrogant ignorance!! Look at the present day Republican party fighting to support a TREASONOUS TREACHEROUS UNFIT CRIMINAL ExPOTUS and sex abuser and LIAR running for "presidency". Arrogant ignorants!!
First, the definition of a drug lord is a criminal organization that controls the promotion and distribution of narcotic drugs. But what is happening is selling opium extract is legal in both UK and the Qing. So your statement is untenable.
You forgot to mention the other side of the trade equation. Canton trading would not open its markets to any foreign goods and would only sell its goods (primarily tea) in exchange for silver. Since the British were trading a non renewable resource (silver) for a renewable resource (tea) each transaction became increasingly expensive and had a price ripple impact on all commodities. This situation does not excuse the British from flooding the Chinese market with an addictive intoxicant. However, If the Chinese had opened their markets and not set up such a large trade imbalance things might have proceeded differently.
@@HDsharp Very true but an imbalance practice does force the hand of states. This is why big trade imbalances can be a big problem. Still, forcing a trade partner to exchange nonrenewable resource with a renewable resource only exasperates the situation.
@eQuilibrium 2 excellent analogy. Moreover , note that China made it illegal to trade in opium before destroying them. So technically the British violated Chinese law and should not have any right to ask for compensation of the destroyed opium. They should count themselves lucky they need not pay any fine.
What happened to China in the past 200 years was bad, but there's some good that came out of it, it made them realize the needed to modernize and become strong once again.
Thanks for your channel showing detailed account and excellent illustrations of the Opium war. My only comment is the title of this video should be changed from Anglo Chinese war to Invasion of British opium trade war with China. The former implies China had played active part to provoke and/or conquer the British territory resulting a war which in fact China had always been in a passive role and a huge victim of this humiliated historical event. Just as when a man rapes a woman by force, you wouldn't call the event The fight between the couple.
I disagree you describe the First "Opium" War as a man r*pes a woman by force, because the Qing Dynasty and the British were not couple, they were independent individuals fighting for their own interests. The only difference between them is that one is advanced and the other is backward, vice versa.
@@vapaus831 Qing government "allowed" opium trade with the British under the threat of gun boats, do you call that "voluntary fair trade"? Or "coerced agreement"? Good try but try harder next time 😊
@@vapaus831I know what you are saying. Qing government was not the shrewdest at the time, and was well known of making numerous wrong decisions politically. Nonetheless, no matter how hard one tries to justify and white wash the Opium wars on behalf of the British opium merchants, the fact was the Chinese citizens (especially young men) were the sole victims as a result from such trade and the British opium merchants were flagrant perpetrators from such immoral acts. The following extracts are from the debate scripts delivered by Hon. Mr J W Pease in the House of Parliament held in 4 June 1880, even they couldn't face the term of their actions which were against their religious beliefs.... "Although the Chinese were undoubtedly guilty of much absurd phraseology, of no little ostentatious pride, and of some excess, justice, in my opinion, is with them; and whilst they, the Pagans, the semi-civilized barbarians, have it on their side, we, the enlightened and civilized Christians, are pursuing objects at variance both with justice and religion." ... "The revenue from opium is not to be counted upon like the revenue from land, or like that from salt, which, be it objectionable or not, is under our control. The opium revenue we may accept with more or loss compunction and regret as ministering to our present necessity; but we have no right to reckon upon its full continuance."-[3Hansard,ccxlvi. 1744.] .... Again, in a letter written this year the right hon. Gentleman said- "I have witnessed three wars in China. The two first of these wars were directly connected with the opium traffic, and grew out of it; and I was among the most earnest and, I may say, the most determined opponents of both those wars." hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1880-06-04/debates/b53a59e8-4235-47f9-beec-31da92fdfbf4/TheOpiumTrade%E2%80%94Observations
@@vapaus831 according to the Wikipedia... By that time, China had lost two wars over opium to “barbarians” from Europe, and its “celestial court” was fatally weakened. A whopping 13.5 million Chinese, out of an estimated population of 400 million, were hooked on opium, including 27 percent of the country's male population. That's about 60% of the then UK population (22. 5m) hooked on opium. When the bread winner in a family addicted to dope, the whole family structure often collapses with it, eg domestic violence, thefts, sharp decline in the GDP etc. Say average family of 4, you are talking about 54 m people were adversely affected by this opium trade. This was a rather conservative estimate. Anyway, do you call that serious? Would you say China was badly damaged from the Opium wars? I would.
@@vapaus831 If I quoted the Harvard art museums data, the figure is even more staggering... In spite of repeated bans, it is estimated that as many as 40 million people-or 10 percent of China’s population-were addicted by the end of the 19th century. For many, addiction would eventually lead to destitution and even premature death. Your efforts of trying to wriggle out British Opium traders' iniquities is blatant yet futile. No matter how hard you attempt to downplay and chew with words like 'addict' only shows more of their imperial evil intentions and greed garnished around it with your naivity. It's what it's. Face the reality like a man, that way, you still earn some residual respect, otherwise, you are wasting my time.
Do you know what month and year the British soldiers got back after the war to England? I'm writing a book that involves the war and I'm having trouble finding out when they came back.
They probably didn’t arrive back all at once, many were stationed in India, Singapore and Australia. Those ships which took part in the sea battles didn’t go back until some ten years later. If any of the units were shifted back home immediately, the sail took between six and nine months depending on wind conditions.
We the Chinese people swear to repay this debt if a war ever broke out between China and the West again! Every bit if it! 100 years of humiliations LEST WE FORGET!
@@vapaus831 It was the Ming Dynasty that closed China off to the world in the 14th century cos we didn't know any better back then of just how evil and cruel those westerners were.
@@vapaus831 We certainly don't blame the current generations for past crimes but if war breaks out now then we will demand that the matter be settled once and for all.
@@namelesswarrior4760 "It was the Ming Dynasty that closed China off to the world in the 14th century" Then I don't understand why China didn't open it up even in the Qing Dynasty. If China don’t even understand the trade rules, there is no need for others to respect China.
As an Englishman I have to say that, as proud as I am of the British Empire, it has to be said that the British East India Company were responsible for many conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 19th century, largely due to their greed, arrogance and disrespect for foreign cultures and customs. This is mostly why Queen Victoria finally disbanded and ended the company's authority in the mid 19th century. They were starting to give us a bad name. Oh btw I'm loving the English war theme from Civ V used in this documentary. 👍
@@britannia55 Different times, and yes we did treat China very badly. I am somebody who will always defend the British Empire and the good it did, but this particular chapter of our history is pretty indefensible. It is perhaps not very surprising that the Chinese developed a deep mistrust of foreign outsiders
Aftermath of the story:opium plantation got popular around China in the coming decades and opium even became kind of currency in some erea. My grandmother was in the PLA matching for southwest provinces in 1949 .The military officers sent everyone of them some opium for medical usage as well as currency to buy food from the local.Of course,even communist party was involved in this "special goods"business.
Many warlords, like Zhang Zongchang and Liu Cunhui, paid their troops almost exclusively in opium due to the devaluation of the Yuan and the difficulty of obtaining foreign currency in sufficient amounts.
The British used rum as a currency in the early /later colony of NSW and paid the convicts, prisoners and others their rations, wages in rum. So this is just another form/example of British oppression using opium of keeping the colonized/captured people in order/under control."
There was probably nothing Elliott could have done to prevent the war -- Palmerston wanted a war to force expanded trade and would or could use any provokation to justify it. In 1846 he wrote "Wherever British subjects are placed in danger thither a British Ship of War out to be ... to remain as long as ... may be required for the protection of British interests." That is to say, wait for British traders or sailors to run afoul of local laws and put themselves in danger and then use that as justification to send a military force to force more favourable conditions for British trade.
There were indeed many people who pushed for a war to break out. William Jardine, one of the biggest opium dealers is another example. He personally went to Palmerston in London to persuade him of launching a military response
You seem like someone who is well-versed in the Chinese language and history (at least 19th century)... Footage of old photos, Chinese texts and some movie clips bring history to life. Superb channel!
It's too painful to watch history of a civilization plundered of its culture, economy and values . Can't see after 12:29.. Btw, It's not an "irreversible " shift of power to west. Power now is in the east.. shifting more and more eastward with each passing year.. plunderers have had enough of global dominance.
Yeah but colonialism has both a good and bad effects the knowledge we have from the internet witch was built on the industrial revolution a large chunk of the world isn’t living in slavery anymore or living poor even in China life has gotten better for the common person(economically) at the same time colonialism takes conquest of another persons land but I would argue it did have a more positive effect than negative affect because we have all this modern technology today and A higher standard of living worldwide.
@@Caligulashorse1453 there is plenty wrong with that! Look at India? Africa? Latin and Central America? Philippines? The Middle East? Great improvements Colonialism has given them!!!
@@guilmarperez4674 well without the British modern United India wouldn’t have been made making them the powerhouse they are today Middle East was a mess before the Europeans ask anyone they will tell you that. The Philippines are quite prosperous compared to many of their neighbors and extremely friendly people Latin America and Africa declared its own Independence causing corrupt individuals to get in control especially in places like Mexico and Drc.
I just find it maddening; how the EITC were already causing havoc in India for years before this (Bengal Famine in 1770 and countless other things) and Britain makes out like they're a "Private Company" and don't represent the crown etc. Yet as soon as all this happens in China (a country that Britain also didn't own!) the military gets involved. Am I missing something or is that just REALLY screwed up and contradictory?
That’s because the British government didn’t give a hoot about the opium, they just wanted to open the Chinese ports so they could trade via barter rather than in silver. Silver was the key element in the wars, not opium. The opium was just a convenient excuse.
The British rushed into China to take over the country and the French, Germans, Belgiums, Russians and Americans etc etc followed very quickly to get their slice of the pie of China and divide it up into their own areas and rip as much wealth etc as they could out of China . The British and Americans smashed an irreplaceable treasure the most magnificent palace in the world at the time the summer palace , just to teach the Chinese a lesson. They looted the palace smashed it beyond repair, worse than any Vikings could, and took thousands of valuable treasures back to their own countries it was outright wanton vandalism and theft. To this day they the western thieves still hang onto these priceless treasures or put them up for auction to make unbelievable profit. Was this all necessary to for their "opium trade" and need to wage war on China and take over someone else country?Because they did not want to part with their own silver and trade ethically?!
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“It’s very hard to sell wool to people who are wearing silk.”
- David Olusoga
Unless it snows
Silk thermals are lovely
@@roundedges2 I’m not familiar with the weather in China. Does it snow there a lot? I imagine the Chinese were used to it long before the British came along, flagging their rough spun wool.
@@roundedges2 actually people of mangolia wear Bear fur in winter , and women wore fox fur as luxury and statues sympol , they did have wool so they didnt need to import it
@@attackpatterndelta8949 northen regions in china does have snow, they basically near russia and mangolia nations known for their cold weather , but also they have deserts and forests , china is just too big they have every land scape
Show called Sliders. Season 2. One episode Professor Arturo asks, “do you know why the sun has never set on the British empire? Because not even god trusts those bastards in the dark.”
That is from the spanish
From there they took it
Here we go again
They are back. Stabers
@@veronicalogotheti5416 m8i
They kill sundiskian for their repugnant son.
So.. British trading company was the biggest drug cartel ever existed.
Pretty much lol
They also enslaved a huge portion of india
The fuck.... America?!.!.
even today lol
Just supplied what was demanded.
We once asked my mother, born in 1924, who our wealthiest ancestor was. She said she had a great great aunt who owned a line of clipper ships. Only after reading about the Opium Wars I surmised that basically she was a smuggler and drug dealer. The batteries they mentioned as ineffective were cemented in place and could not be aimed. Duh.
One British soldier noticed that one of the cannons they captured, had been cast in the year 1601.
@@wolfu597 When you read about a Chinese treasure found in an Englishman’s garden, you know where it came from. The French were the worst though. They burned so much precious silk and smashed statuary. The British soldiers were under orders not to loot. Well . . . My girlfriend is Chinese and this is part of her nation’s memories.
@@martinphilip8998 I hear ya.
But the Qing forces also engaged in looting. From the very people they were meant to protect.
@@martinphilip8998 And I think you're referring to the destruction of the Imperial Summer Palace? I agree with you that it was a despicable act.
But the reason for this, was how the Qing forces had treated the 26 members of a delegation that had tried to open up negotiationm but ended up being captured by the Qing forces outside the Imperial capital.
The delegation were held in captivity for less than a month, but when they were released, 15 of the delegations members had died. From starvation, torture and malnutrition.
When the Western soldiers saw the condition of the survivors and heard what had happened to the rest of the delegation members, they went into a rage, and wanted to ransack and burn down the entire capital city.
But lord Elgin convinced that they needed to go after the Emperor instead. And since the Qing courts weren't taking the Western powers seriously, they decided to destroy the Summer palace complex.
A dishonorable act indeed, but it was the lesser of two evils.
@@wolfu597 You are well read. Wasn’t Elgin the father of the Elgin who took the Greek marbles?
I never really knew how HK was ceded to the British until I bumped into this channel. Great summary of the Opium war history in 36 mins! I learned from the local that this was one of the greatest humiliation to the Qing dynasty. The emperor was painted with a very different story of what was actually happening on the ground by the generals. In movies, emperors were portrayed as useless and only busy with all the concubines. Their failure to reform brought their own downfall. It's a very dark period in Chinese history. Very sad.
In Qing dynasty China was ruled by Manchu ethnicity, one of the 56 in China. Manchu has only 10 millions population and represents 0.7% of the Chinese population today. The real China is nothing like the Manchu. With the modern communication no foreign power can do to China like what they did in 1900s.
They are not really chinese
They came from japan corea
@@veronicalogotheti5416 An outsider knows about Chinese history better than the Chinese themselves?
@@gunsumwong3948 i think chinese always knew
The winners write the history
@@veronicalogotheti5416 That is the English speaking world control on media too. The winner doesn't always right or just. The world come to know it gradually.
The misinformation now fires back at the English speaking countries by telling them everything China does is bad, wrong, evil, corrupted and authoritarian.so the right way is to do things opposite to China. Well China this time get the covid control right and the English-speaking countries are now in pieces. Today US, UK and Australia have population anti-science, bend on doing what the government wants, protesting against wearing a mask, taking a test, doing social distancing, obeying lockdown and even against vaccine all at the height of a pandemic.
Open your eye and you will see your "winner" is degenerating into a "loser". If you don't recognise a mistake you will never correct it and the mistake will persist. US has been claiming victory and helping Afghan to build a democratic country over 20 years in Afghanistan too.
Columbian cartels, "I'm the best drug dealer."
CIA, "I'm the best drug dealer."
British Empire, "Amateurs."
Chinese fentanyl traffickers: the lot of you are bloody amateurs
Colombia? That is a third-world country, if it comes down to it, it can be easily taken over.
@@theccpisaparasite8813
TH-cam search drug dealers in doctor clothings.
Here's the situation people face:
1). Walk into your doctor's office for a light illness or pain, doctor prescribes you some "pain reliever" that will relieve your pain.
2). Go home, and take one of those meds every morning. Soon, you'll get a tolerance to that level/amount of medication, so you'll up the dose due to your body naturally needing more to get anything out of it.
3). Addiction. Since those opioids are highly addictive, you've managed to unknowingly step into a mass addiction process. This will only increase your demand for those medication, not by choice, but by the body's addiction.
4). You go back to doctor, in order for more pills since you have an addiction to them. Doctor says "Sure, I'll give you some more" and afterwards you pay the regular price, and gain an even heavier addiction. So the cycle continues.
5). Producer of said drugs decided that in order to make some BIG bucks, they pull out nearly ALL of the intended supply going there, and by basic laws of Supply & Demand, the price of said drugs goes ROARING up into the skies, selling even at hundreds of dollars per pill bottle.
6). People are addicted to said drug, and will have withdrawal symptoms. Since they have these symptoms, they'll buy more medication at the price the company/pharmacy is charging... until, they can't.
7). A mass of people suffer from withdrawal symptoms, have both life breaking medical and financial damages, and overall their life gets sh*ttier than it already was.
I'd like to remind you, that these aren't some drug skipping hardcore rap pablo escobar people, these are just simple mountain folks in WV who probably don't even believe in the legalization of pot.
Snow Miser. . 1 day ago. . @cmdmd Here's the situation people face:
1). Walk into your doctor's office for a light illness or pain, doctor prescribes you some "pain reliever" that will relieve your pain.
2). Go home, and take one of those meds every morning. Soon, you'll get a tolerance to that level/amount of medication, so you'll up the dose due to your body naturally needing more to get anything out of it.
3). Addiction. Since those opioids are highly addictive, you've managed to unknowingly step into a mass addiction process. This will only increase your demand for those medication, not by choice, but by the body's addiction.
4). You go back to doctor, in order for more pills since you have an addiction to them. Doctor says "Sure, I'll give you some more" and afterwards you pay the regular price, and gain an even heavier addiction. So the cycle continues.
5). Producer of said drugs decided that in order to make some BIG bucks, they pull out nearly ALL of the intended supply going there, and by basic laws of Supply & Demand, the price of said drugs goes ROARING up into the skies, selling even at hundreds of dollars per pill bottle.
6). People are addicted to said drug, and will have withdrawal symptoms. Since they have these symptoms, they'll buy more medication at the price the company/pharmacy is charging... until, they can't.
7). A mass of people suffer from withdrawal symptoms, have both life breaking medical and financial damages, and overall their life gets sh*ttier than it already was.
I'd like to remind you, that these aren't some drug skipping hardcore rap pablo escobar people, these are just simple mountain folks in WV who probably don't even believe in the legalization of pot.
@@condorX2 and wot are you on?
IDK -- I think the CIA really cornered the market. :)
A very good narration. Kept me interested all the way through. Glad to have found you.
Glad you enjoyed ! Thanks for following
@@History_of_China You are not lying, but not telling the whole truth.
@@vapaus831 You mean not the whole story.
This is exactly the video for which I've waited for years. It's quite well done with detail and background, but so not long as to lose the one watching. I'm neither British nor Chinese, but the story appears to be told from a relatively unbiased perspective.
Unbiased? The "honourable" east India trading company? The British lost 15, the Chinese lost 1500. The British saluted their honourable defense. This is clearly a British take on what happened.
@@brandonbroniszewski890 The victor writes history, of course it’s told from a British perspective, they won.
@@gavinthegreatgavinthegreat97 I recognize the victor tells the story. But it's am obviously biased point of view, which was the discussion
This account from the video is not at all"unbiased" it is a sanitized version of history to make the English look good. It has left out many significant facts and details. Typical English colonial rewrite of history.
@@rosebud4387 The narrator was probably British.
I loved your documentary about opium war. I will be watching it several times more to memorize all the events. Great job. Thanks
Thank you! I'm glad you liked it
@01:59 conquest of India was definitely not costly. British citizens didn’t lose a soldier nor taxes. It was mostly won by other Indian troops, under east India company that paid for it all by plundering Indian kings.
It wasn’t out of a necessity, they did it out of pure greed.
What always stuck me about the conquest of the Raj was that 150 million Indian's were ruled by 5,000 British, the mob is the power but they couldn't put their petty differences aside to cast us out.
Replies most welcome.
@@paulgraham8280 if you looked at india you would understand why it happened , first unlike india , china had majoriy han ethical group who allowed minority machurains and mangolians to rule them cuz they had formed some kind alliance over year , ALSO unlike multi religious india , china was prodominaitly buddists and taoist which very similar to each other , BUT india have mulitple religions that been in battle with each others even before the british , and british use divide and concque so it was easier for them to take over already divided india then china who were majority people of same han group
@@sakurakou2009 well said.The conflict occured between muslims and hindus after they both vanished Buddhism from Indian subcontinent. The britishers got a lot of advantage from the the Divide and Rule (muslims vs. Hindus)...Then it was just a matter of time to conquer south-east Asia and China.
@@walkwithmisuk ....it was never about religion....it was competing interests....hindu rajputs took help from brits against hindu marathas....Muslim Nizam n Muslim Tipu Sultan were enemies n nizam took British help......
Next, the definition of a drug dealer is a person who sells illegal drugs. The UK only did these things before 1900s instead of now and it is not illegal. In addition, your "victim" which is Qing also allow opium instead of opium tobacco, since both side allow opium trade to happen, then all that exists is a trade relationship, there's nothing illegal about it.
So glad I found this channel.
LMAO Zedong
How's hell? Is it still warm?
@@rmcl7583 lol
@@rmcl7583 you'll find out when it is your turn...
The Opium trade made it possible for USA to begin the Industrial Revolution, where the railroads was built on the addiction of the Chinese. For example Franklin D. Roosevelt, where the D. came from Delano was from the part of his family that was rich since those days. I'm not sure what the Opium Wars made possible for Britain, but I can imagine it was similar.
Thank you for this documentary on the first Opium War.
Until I watched your video, I've never had much interest in knowing about this war. Well, now I want to know more, about both wars.
Thank you.
Thanks for your comment ! Glad you enjoyed :)
@@History_of_China Could you make a video about the Second Opium War, as well?
@@History_of_China You will only hide the fact.
when we were in secondary school in hong kong (colonial era) it was called “Sino-British War”, i am still puzzling how these war were named why Sino-British and sometimes Anglo-Chinese... Also the view point on the same war in difference lesson is slightly different. Like in Chinese history lesson which taught in Chinese, it is a drug war, simply “opium war”, not “sino-british war” whatsoever, it was an invasion from foreign power, violation of sovereignty shit and such. In world history lesson which taught in English entirely it was more like a trade war, focusing on treaties, silver, deficit, east india company and such... It was interesting to see how the same thing was interpreted. (btw, the world history book was way fucking thicker.... what a nightmare)
Yes!! When I learned about this war for the second time in North America, it was taught from the "the Chinese weren't treating the British as equals in the trade relationship, so we had to fight" perspective, which was super different from when I learned it the first time on the other side of the ocean (where the story was centered around opium). I find the temporal and geographic variations in the framing of the war to be suppperrr intereseting :'D
Ninja Whale 忍者鲸 makes u doubt everything taught since then isn’t it, there is no real history, just interpretation of things that happened.
@@hygog yep yep ^___^ and made me realize historiography is just as fun to study as the history itself ^___^
The victors are the ones that write history
@@cfkeithc yeah tell that to the Romans
It was super interesting thank you. Also your pronunciation of both English and Chinese was very good.
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed
@@History_of_China You are not lying, but not telling the whole truth.
Yes, the pronunciation is perfect.
This was one of the most well hidden pieces of history I've ever come across. A shop owner told me about all of this and that is how I found out about this.
What was he selling?
You must live in a history void. This is a shallow and trivial account. Please read some books.
@@goatvision6908 I'm pretty sure 70% of the british population now doesnt know this history. Just like how many americans now don't know why the civil war was fought. Very sad that our youth nowadays does not have interest in history.
@@goatvision6908 So which books do you recommend then?
@@spankme8484 Julia Lovell's book is good but inverts the paradigms in operation. Basically in all retrospective analysis it is important to refer to present day trading patterns to see how relative security of the players is maintained. This is not done in any book that I know of. All start from the premise that western firepower was so overwhelming that the advantage was comprehensively on the side of the outside players. This was also the situation in Viet Nam.
Consider yourself a clipper skipper. My Great great grandfather was a clipper skipper and his logs are with me. His concerns were scurvy and sailors. The opium delivery was a small part of his concern because the Chinese looked after everything from the port onwards. I don't think he even landed in Canton. Straight into cutters from the hold. Might have been a busy day there. The point is that even if they had made landfall then what would they have done? Run about looking for a buyer without the language?
Imagine arriving with a ton of Japanese medicine in France and then trying to distribute it. It would be hard to avoid engaging Frenchmen to help. Pretty soon the helpers would be able to take over the business. Distribution is always where the best margins are.
Another great Video! Thanks for posting man! Appreciate the time taken to do up your research and compile them correctly and accurately for us.
Correctly? The first sentence in this video was already wrong.
@@Allgood33 I assume that in the video, the "1,000 year old civilization" was china itself, rather than the Qing dynasty. As china has been a civilization for over 3,000 years. obviously the Qing dynasty (1636 - 1911) was not 1,000 years old, in which case you would be right. But I guess we will never know what exactly he meant.
🤨 💭
Hmmm Oooh lord🤦♂️!…
Any story about about Western nations invading Asia, Africa, America, Middle East, Pacific, etc… always excruciating…
Afterwards, they’d send Priests into that territory to continue spread their evil spirits…
Western civilization acting like world police officers but they’re the robbers, thieves, criminals, etc…
Honourable British east India company.....My foot.
You thought it was? Seriously? I don't even think they thought of themselves as honorable. It was simply a case of a technologically and militarily superior society thinking of a more backward and primitive society as totally inferior 'barbarians'. Hell the same attitude prevailed at the Chinese Imperial Court. This was a war that the British greed and desperation made inevitable. Not to excuse the British actions but I don't see how it was avoidable on either end. These were simple-minded men without vision. I think that this behavior was absolutely endemic in all human cultures until ... WWII which should have been a wake up call. Which it was in Europe and the America and most English-speaking peoples. I think parts of Asia still don't get it. The Russians didn't until the 80's. This is the century where, unfortunately, China will have to be taught that lesson.
@@theccpisaparasite8813 The USA & allies were world parasites! That says all!
@@jagdpanther2224 the truth of that is debatable, but I definitely agree with the operative word "were" thank your agreeing with me. The CCP _is_ and two world wars should have taught them that its wrong.
@@theccpisaparasite8813
Based
@@theccpisaparasite8813 Good luck with that and try taking off your western colored glasses they are giving you a skewered view of history and the present.
The young Chinese are not brainwashed. History will never be forgotten in China.
Yes not brainwashed by Winnie the Poo thought at all.
Love from the states and good luck over there.
@@damonoid781history is history. It will do u well not to forget what your countries did to Asia during colonial times. Telling asians to forget it is similar whitewashing by the west
That is part of the brainwashing- To hate the white man that brought you the modern world. When we are gone you will slip back into the dark ages.
No history should be forgotten ❤
Amazing, and so valuable is this story! A history of profound historical, economic, and cultural events!
It deserves a full season of Narcos..
Great, engaging video. I love Chinese History!
Thanks!
Lots of missing informations
Of all the terrible things the British Empire did The Opium War ranks among the very worse. A.Brit.
Thank you.
No, because the British brought the idea of democracy and freedom to us. Secondly without the British, HongKong is just a fishing village.
The colonial powers may have started unfair wars once and again (the Boers war, Congo belge, France in half of Africa, Spain in Cuba and Santo Domingo, the USA in 1898 in Cuba, the Germans in Tanzania...), but there are no other shameless wars than the opium wars, it was and still is the worst we could have offered to the world. And so many landmarks in HK are still named after a drug kingpin is absolutely pathetic (Jardine's Lookout, Jardine's house, Jardine's crescent...). You imagine Escobar palace, Escobar Avenue or Escobar peak in Colombia?
Very true
clap clap
And Pottinger Street in Central.
Thank you for your video and the depth of research into the Opium War. A drug pushing country with modern technology can get their way. Qing dynasty was destined to fall, but her fall also usher in a century of humiliation for one of the world's greatest civilization. A true wake up call for China to speed up technological advancement.
And yet the CCP had forgotten the genesis of the Opium Wars, namely, a country cannot blindly pursue mercantilist policies without serious consequences. I opine that if the Qing emperor engaged in balanced trade then there were be no need for the British to sell opium to China in order to reduce the trade imbalance.
@@wengsoonyuen2086 所以不买鸦片是中国人的错，引发战争也是中国人的错
Emperor Quinalong blindly rejected the exchange of tea for the British scientific and manufactured products. He saw no purpose in these items. Hence the backwardness. 50% of fault is on the Qing side.
@@wengsoonyuen2086 Under Deng Xiao Ping, the CCP opened China to the world. It is not a mercantilist policy.
It has.
This is an incredible channel. Extremely well done!
Outstanding beautiful work of art!
Here I am watching this video with a cup of tea. Great work!
Lol, thanks!
And feeling proud. I am sure
@@bernardochill2535 I am not from the UK.
This just proof the great British was no more than great drug dealer and mercenary.
Thank you.
cia does as much for us.
And done by the state
Yes. They were much more. But also drug dealers.
cia has got that now. Britain has few resources and they took over other countries by might, and stript them of theirs.
I'm surprised I haven't come across this channel before.
Good Content 👍👌💪
Thank you!
@@History_of_China You are not lying, but not telling the whole truth.
I find this extremely hard to watch. We owe China, Japan owes China. No wonder we have such a hard time negotiating with them, what we did was unforgivable. I have become fascinated by Chinese history, its people are incredible.The opium trade was disgusting. Recently, I tried to watch a movie about the rape of Nanking - such an atrocity. I could only watch for a very short time so heartbreaking. The Chinese people have truly suffered. I hope they never forgive Japan for what they did. Neither should Korea.
I didn't know much of Chinese history and only heard the phrases rape of Nanking and opium wars. I too find this deeply distressing. I wish the Chinese people the best and admire their diligence in the face of sanctions on semiconductor chips by the USA and the smearing of China and the constant provocation by the west regarding the Taiwan issue.
Your "victim" which is Qing also allow opium instead of opium tobacco, since both side allow opium trade to happen, then all that exists is a trade relationship, there's nothing illegal about it.
@@vapaus831 so the west agreed to do business with China on the terms of sharing technology, ( allowed to use cheap Chinese labour to manufacture and to sell in the China market etc, )why is it the west repeatedly say China stole their technology.
Fascinating as always. :)
This is War is where the Chinese saying "if progress is behind, then others will beat you up" (落后就会挨打) had originated from.
This the biggest motivation and a continue source of nationalism in China from then to now.
It also was the beginning of the end for the Qing.
@@frankieseward8667 not really the Qing dynasty was falling in it last years even before the british , cuz they were trying to hold to their old way and not catch up to modernization , look at japan for example , japan quickly became monster when they modernized and tried to catch up with new technology , but japan at that time relies that they couldnt do it with their small island and wanted new land thus invading their neighbors to imitate european imperialism in asia , IF it was china who relies that and did what japan had did , china in my opinion could have became much larger then british empire or even russian empire
@@sakurakou2009 hopefully without the imperialism.
@@frankieseward8667 of course ancient chinese were as imperialistic as anyone else , they letterly called Empire , Qing where imperialistic as anyone of their time were , their was no nations and country borders back then , your borders is how far your army can extend , and this not bad thing , cuz securing land mean securing your people have enough food and wealth to keep them feed and well , main reason europeans did their conquests cuz europe was poor in natural resources and they were poor that why once they invaded the americas the whole of europe changed , if I was citizen of poor country and only was for my people yo survive is by invading someone else home I would do it , fuck them this is survival battle .
BUT once two nations come to agreement and Sign peace and acknowledge each others BORDERS , then one who break the peace is at false cuz they agree on the terms.
所以,只有根本不優秀的假nation才需要創造出「落後就要挨打」的神話 以示委屈。能噴得出「落後就要挨打」這麼混帳的言論 暴露了這群傢伙根本不介意落後 而只介意挨打的是自己 暴露了這群傢伙恰恰還極端認同落後就該挨打
This is superb! Most of us no jack about China and it’s history Very. Very important stuff and well put together Many thanks
Check out the channel serpentza for the most unbiased view of modern China.
@@saucywench9122 You mean the most nasty biased vitriolic version of anti China bias is by Serpentza who was kicked out of China.
@@saucywench9122 Lol you joke person. Serpentza is a shameless anti chinese chancer. Unbiased my anus.
Thanks for this wonderful video on a topic that's so indispensable for understanding modern China. Learned a lot and listing the sources is very helpful! I wonder how differently the Opium war is taught in different countries :P
The historiography of the war changes greatly from Britain to China. In China, the defeat in the war is easily identified as the start of the century of humiliation, concessions forced in unequal treaties and the rapid decline of imperial authority. In Britain it was a Tuesday -- by which I mean, Britain was fighting someone, somewhere in the world in every year of Queen Victoria's reign so the war's importance is very much dilluted and diminished in the context of so many other colonial wars and episodes of gunboat diplomacy.
Thanks for your comment, I'm glad you enjoyed !
They don’t teach this in the US schools, it’s shines a negative light on the west. European powers have been brutal to countries they invade. corporate greed has not changed.
They don’t teach the about the Opium War in the UK, it is just seen as some other irrelevant War to us. We are mostly taught about domestic British history in school, really the only international British history we are taught is WW1 and WW2. The opium war isn’t that important to us the way it is to China.
@@td370 The First Opium War actually helped with the British economy.
Very interesting. It's amazing how the world was and is now!!
The letter from Lin Zexu actually contained that he is not pretty sure that China has a war with British. And you guys should think one more about the role of Elliot. Read this book: "Creating the Opium war: British imperial attitudes towards China, 1792-1840" by Gao in 2020.
They weren’t going to stop that wanted what they wanted and were only waiting for reinforcements to arrive
British play dirty and are devils
Fascinating. Thanks for sharing~~~
Glad you enjoyed!
The Opium War was just one continuous curb stomp after another. The Qing navies with their wooden junks didn’t really stand a chance against Royal Navy iron stream ships and ships of the line.
Just wait until we get to the Second Opium War against both Britain and France !
@@History_of_China The second Opium War we see the ceding of Kowloon Peninsula to Britain uo the 'Boundary Street' where our family used to live.
Curb stomp? The British completed clobbered them!
@@History_of_China Don't forget the US helped too (unofficially of course).
Trump would have pwnt Britain back then
Interesting documentary on a war that started because of drugs.
But I think that the biggest tragedy for the Qing dynasty was the refusal of it's imperial court officials to learn from the defeats they suffered in this war. This war proved to the world that China was militarily weak, and I think that played a major part in the reason why other European nations joined Britain in the second Opium war!
Well does that pardon how the other European nations decided to group up and bully a weaker nation?
@@ktttttt No, it doesn't.
But it shows how important it is to stand up to bullies.
And keep one thing in mind: there is always someone bigger, better, and stronger than you.
@@wolfu597 Err you mean like how China surpasses England in economy now? Personally I think it was a huge mistake for China to underestimate the west and for the west to underestimate China in turn. If the west hadn't underestimated China (and Asia actually) afterwards, Pearl Harbour wouldn't have been so easily bombed, China's economy won't be the second biggest right now (and probably the future biggest)
@@ktttttt Maybe, maybe not.
But no one knows what the future holds in store for them.
Right now, the West are being led by Left wing politicians who are more concerned about virtue signaling than their own people. But, as history has shown us, things change.
@@wolfu597 Yeah, at least Japan could defend themselves.
Id say one of the most humiliating provision of the the treaty of Nanking was the Qing government had to give amnesty to Chinese citizens who betrayed china and asisted the British during the conflict.
Outstanding. Thank you, Sir.
I just subscribed to your channel. I had no choice. Great content is often hard to come by
Thanks for following!
@@History_of_China With missing informations.
I totally enjoy all your videos ❤ thankyou so much for all your hard work 💜 🙏🇦🇺
After watching this video, perhaps one would have a better understanding on why China has very strict laws against drug related crimes. Recently, it just sentenced a Canadian guy to death for smuggling around 220 kilograms of meth in China, the threshold for death sentence in leading a drug smuggling business is 50 grams...
Even in the west, 220kg of meth would put you away for 20 years to life. Most Asian countries have harsh punishment, including death penalty for drugs.
Just look at japan or even South Korea. Some sk celebrity admitted to smoking a joint while in USA or something and when they came back to SK, they were arrested and socislly outcast. Fired from their job and contracts, and iirc, also had to make a very public apology to the whole country. Even China doesn't go that far.
Finally, meth is a very destructive drug and cannot be compared with weed, or even opiates which both have long, legitimate medical uses while meth is seen as a scourge by everyone, even its users and addicts.
good
Exactly!! And why Hong Kong is a historical humiliation to China.
Singapore has a Similar Drug Law... you get Caught Smuggling in ANY KIND or AMOUNT of an ILLEGAL DRUG, and they HANG YOU (it's ZERO Tolerance) !!! Did it to a 22-year old Woman WITH a BABY... HANGED HER... shortly after her, THREE GUYS from the UK tried to Smuggle In Drugs, got Caught, and HANG'ed... (ouch)... !!!
In 1729, Yongzheng ordered a ban on smoking, but what was banned was the mixture of tobacco and opium - what we commonly call "Madak", not the opium itself. Opium imports are still used as medicinal materials.
Great video. Just found this channel
Glad you enjoyed :)
@@History_of_China missing informations.
Very informative, thanks.
Then, let me give you more informations, Opium was considered as an herbal medicine, but it was not widely used. Moreover, in the eyes of the British, opium is not a drug at all but a sleeping pill and entertainment items. Moreover, the concept of drugs was not established at the beginning of the 19th century.
after the Opium War, Lin Zexu also advocated planting native opium in China to reduce the dependence on foreign opium. (In this way, things like opium smuggling can be avoided, and Western opium can be prevented from entering the Chinese market from the source. While preventing the outflow of silver, it can not only increase national income, but also reduce the cost of opium smokers.) Therefore, the main reason for the launch of the Opium War was economic problems rather than drug problems.
In 1729, Yongzheng ordered a ban on smoking, but what was banned was the mixture of tobacco and opium - what we commonly call "Madak", not the opium itself. Opium imports are still used as medicinal materials.
fun fact during the battle of zhenjiang a young james fitzjames was wounded, he would later go missing in the canadian arctic as part of the franklin expedition
The Chinese talked as if they had everything they needed, so they were shown they were in need of a way to protect themselves in a manner not relying on spears.
I enjoyed watching and learning. Thanks!
Glad you did!
18:43 According to wiki, the Convention of Chuenpi was not signed. It was not regarded as valid by both governments. Hong kong was therefore technically illegally occupied by the British without a proper treaty, until the Treaty of Nanking in August 1842. The name Pottinger would much more likely to be pronounced without a glottal stop, thus Pottin-ger rather than Potting-er two centuries ago. The 'Gough' in General Sir Hugh Gough is probably 'gof' similar to cough, not the hard German or Dutch 'gh' in van Gough. 😊
And why Pottinger Street still exists on Hong Kong Island in the middle of Hong Kong's financial district in Central.
@@cameronsam8641 Haha, I only by chance walked past Pottinger St. a couple of days ago. It's only a small street to remember the first governor of Hong Kong in 1843.
One thing to take into consideration is that most of the numbers related to British casualties come from the British reports, which were also probably not that trustworthy. The majority of the British force constituted of Indian colonial troops and the "low casualty" figure seems to fit the colonial narrative of the "European exceptionalism" (like that of the colonization of the American continent, when we often read about the few hundred spaniards who conquered this and that empire, completely ignoring the hundreds of thousands of native allies they had). And were those Indian troops taken into consideration? That I cannot fully answer, but when we put into perspective, I truly think not. Nowadays, one can find British monuments for the fallen dogs of WW1, but not for the many Indian soldiers who died fighting for them. The same for the French and other major European powers whose military forces had a substantial contingent of African and Asian colonial soldiers. They rarely show(ed) up in statistics.
That's what I initially thought, however it is true that excellent British strategy combined with far superior firepower allowed the British forces to rout the Qing armies easily, suffering only minor losses. In addition, the strict organisation of a modern army most likely wouldn't allow embellished reports to be produced as in previous century.
It seems that most casualties of the war were Indian troops who suffered from dysentry contracted in China (over 500 deaths).
We'll never know exact numbers for sure, but we can be certain that the British suffered very few casuatlies in the First Opium War.
I wonder what that thing half way down Rajpath in Delhi is? The Chatri at Brighton. The memorial at Haifa. The Neuve Chapelle memorial in France. The memorial at Zehrensdorf, in Germany, The Pietta memorial. There are many more. Memorials in Australia often mention Indian troops. So too in Canada.
To suggest that dogs are memorialised and not Indians is blatant propaganda. It is not true in the slightest. You are just making things up out of the blue.
@@goatvision6908 they send indians to fight their wars. those indians are brainwashed hahaha
I also upload the Opium war video as a Chinese!
22:53 - music reminds me, I could quite enjoy a game of Empire Total War. 😂
Hi! I really like your documentary so I used it as one of my sources for a school project. In order to source this documentary I need the author or directors name, may I ask what it is? Thanks.
Edit: source it as in, for my bibliography in MLA format
Hi! I'm glad you enjoyed my work! Please contact me at history.of.china1@gmail.com, and I'll send you the details :)
Who would have thought that the government of Britain would have sanctioned, and supported with its military, the effort of drug pushers? What country comes to another country and insists on trade through force. After such a defeat, China turned inward and worked hard to become a mighty country by learning from loss and humiliation and experiencing the unthinkable gall of the British nation. Thank you for the great video.
Britain, and later America, have been the bully boys of the world. In school we are taught history that the government wants you to learn, it isn't until later in life you realise that you wasn't educated, you were indoctrinated. It really is an eye opening experience learning true historical facts.
Opium has been known and grown in China centuries before the Dutch or English trade. Opium was considered as an herbal medicine, but it was not widely used. Moreover, in the eyes of the British, opium is not a drug at all but a sleeping pill and entertainment items. Moreover, the concept of drugs was not established at the beginning of the 19th century. Lastly, after the Opium War, Lin Zexu also advocated planting native opium in China to reduce the dependence on foreign opium. So this is all about the the economy.
It’s crazy how we don’t learn this history in British schools.
Shameful actions.......
by design
@@cameronsam8641No, because the British brought the idea of democracy and freedom to us. Secondly without the British, HongKong is just a fishing village.
AT 2:00 you start the story by saying opium is illegal, and then at 3:00 you introduce an emperor that first made opium illegal after it was already illegal. which is it?
In 1729, Yongzheng ordered a ban on smoking, but what was banned was the mixture of tobacco and opium - what we commonly call "Madak", not the opium itself. Opium imports are still used as medicinal materials.
I thought Qi Shan was spared death and that his death sentence was just the Emperor doing it out of rage.
Absolutely. Although he was sentenced to death, he was not actually executed
Well presented. Please. More!
Thank you!
Fantastic video!
I never realised how much nuance there was to this part of history …
It is fascinating to hear how much damage was caused by both accidental and deliberate miscommunication … and how hard decent people tried to prevent it …
At school we were taught this period in black and white - here, you present it in glorious colour!
Just brilliant. Well done!
Thank you so much! Nuance if fundemental to objectively explain history
@@History_of_China Not telling the whole truth.
Great content, comment for the algor
Thank you so much!
@@History_of_China Please have a look on this source, after have a reading on it, please tell me whether you will withdraw the video.
Frank Dikötter, Lars Peter Laamann, and Xun Zhou, Narcotic Culture: A History of Drugs in China (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004)
Wasn't Qishan was pardoned later and reinstated as an official in 1842?
Absolutely. He was officially condemned to death in a spite of rage of Emperor Daoguang, but the sentence was not actually carried out in the end
@@History_of_China okay, so your use of the phrase 'condemned to death' is accurate, but it could be misleading since usually when someone is officially condemned to death the sentence, as most people would assume, is carried out unless specified otherwise, and the consequence could be if people are mislead that they think the Qing court was less humane than they would otherwise assume
but at least it's good you clarified in the TH-cam comments section
not trying to nitpick, but I think this is important constructive criticism
Speaking as an American, the British really really dont like it when you dump their product into a harbor
Lesson learnt. Technology wins at the end of the day. British had cannons and guns. Chinese armies had swords and spears. It’s checkmate. What’s ironic is that the brits forces China to pay repatriation cost to cover the Brits military expenses. Now that’s a war rape! I guess now the modern China learns to invest heavily in technologies. Does anyone think one day China would colonise British as pay back and get them to pay a repatriation costs ? That would be interesting.
The gap wasn't even that wide. It wasn't like colonial conquests in South Africa or the New World. The Chinese had cannons and guns. A century ago, they very well could have won. It just goes to show the immense impact even a relatively slight technological difference can have. That's the power of the Industrial Revolution.
Unlikely. Brits have nukes. Perhaps through migration like reverse colonisation from India.
The British also had very sneaky tactics and determination to get their hands on Chinese goods and wealth.
@@animation1234111 Think you didn't read up the topic well. Most Qing soldiers were armed with muskets and cannons with lower range. While the British marines had bolt action rifles and cannons with higher range. Please read up abit before you comment. The technological gap is significant.
@@macrick I never said it wasn't. OP contrasted Chinese "swords and spears" with British had "cannons and guns". I clarified the Chinese also had "cannons and guns", albeit more primitive ones. While the hap in technology was significant, it wasn't as significant as OP is saying. Misrepresenting people doesn't make you look more intelligent.
no mention of the Sassoon family (dues) and the complete domination of the trade
I’m British, and deeply disturbed and ashamed of our ruling classes history.
I appreciate your honest perspective on Britains use of their superior military power to overpower Chinese government efforts to turn the Chinese people into drug addicts, thus creating a huge market for their opium produced in India by the native population there, having used superior military power of the EIC Army to enslave that population also.
Before the USA Empire invading countries around the world in the quest for more oil, and other resources and for other insidious contrived “reasons”.
Violent Regime change of legitimate elected governments, starting wars we never win, so that they run for 20years , and starting proxy wars that decimate the very nation we supposedly are helping.
Millions of Asian and Middle Eastern civilians murdered by the US military superior forces since the US started using nuclear bombs, or the threat of, on other nations.
The vast majority of American citizens have been steadily opposed for decades against such US actions, such actions pursued only to enrich the MIC and elite class 2% in America.
Easy to see why the US and UK are always partners in crime.
The soldier that killed and invaded were not upper class .
@@timoc5880 certainly you are right about ; they are in no position to disobey an order, and to go AWOL to escape obeying it is futile also.
Even tho you are right and it is despicable… I cannot stop myself of being fascinated by the british. How were they so powerful that they literally conquered all the world? How were they already so sophisticated when the other part of the world was still in post monkey phase? Living almost like animals instead in England u have already big houses and businesses… what was the power point of such succes? Always been curious (maybe the parlament? Oligarchs vs imperiors around the world?)
@@timoc5880 Most members of the British Parliament belong to the upper class. They are the ones who sent those soldiers who most likely belong to the working class to invade and kill.
You cannot make a documentary on the opium wars without reading Frank Dikotter of SOAS et al.
Who ever was feeding the Emperor,with lies must have been well payed.
Not really, it more has to do with China being an honor shame culture and more about saving face. It's shameful to admit such devastating defeats.
Excellent program
With lots of missing informations.
Nice video it’s hard to find historical sources on China without basis.
You need to search in Chinese.
@@vapaus831 that’s not the basis I’m talking about
@@Caligulashorse1453 So what basis are you talking about?
This series is great, and very informative but much of the closed captioning language recognition program is distracting and embarrassing, a bit of editing would be priceless.
So, did you also know that Yongzheng ordered a ban on smoking in 1729, but what was banned was the mixture of tobacco and opium - what we commonly call "Madak", not the opium itself. Opium imports are still used as medicinal materials.
A reason why the vote in parliament failed was because most of the MP's had shares in the company.
thx for giving your sources!
Opium was considered as an herbal medicine, but it was not widely used. Moreover, in the eyes of the British, opium is not a drug at all but a sleeping pill and entertainment items. Moreover, the concept of drugs was not established at the beginning of the 19th century.
In 1729, Yongzheng ordered a ban on smoking, but what was banned was the mixture of tobacco and opium - what we commonly call "Madak", not the opium itself. Opium imports are still used as medicinal materials.
I would love your analysis of the Russo-Japanese war
Jacob Schiff . Search for it
This is bringing flashbacks from the poppy war series by R F kuang!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you for the video... quickly makes your realise that the world's anti-china regime is based on fear of self and insecurity. Firstly, the lack of understanding of the language leaves a lot of room to the Western commoner to construct all of his own fears within that space of his consciousness. The British East Incdia Cmpany, as too the Dutch East India Company comprised of a bunch of tiny, insecure men, who need to see power and destructio over and of other human beings in order to feel content.
Thanks, I'm glad you enjoyed :)
Excellent point about the lack of understanding of China in the west. The knowledge of China in the west is abysmal and I think this boils down to not understanding the language or Confucian culture of China. I think the Chinese classics should be studied in western schools.
@@s1050 nope. there is no misunderstanding. western powers especially the British was about global conquests. the east was naive and still so today.
That's a complete load of horseshit. The east India company might have had an incompetent leadership at times, it was occasionally cruel. But its motive was trade. It used its power to achieve this objective. The idea that this company and its officials did all of this 'in order to feel content' is absurd. It was a huge company with its own army, navy, its own currency and it ran at least one entire country (India). The reason I am taking issue with your post is that the east India company inflicted a crushing defeat upon china, then negotiated its requirements with china. Sure, Hong Kong was taken, but apart from setting up a few local municipal governments in places like Shanghai, essentially, the British withdrew from china. 99.999 % of china was run by the Chinese, at least at the time of the first opium war. It wasn't a world war two type situation, with the Japanese endlessly in occupation, torturing and raping their way across the country. It was pretty much the exact opposite of that.
@@hvuu1628 trade, not conquest
The more I learn of history and politics, along with their clandestine and under-the
-table goings on, the more I think that many countries governments are no better than drug lord’s and gun runners.
Exactly. No better that people today still can't understand the criminality of he past and see it from the victim's perspective. Sad and arrogant ignorance!! Look at the present day Republican party fighting to support a TREASONOUS TREACHEROUS UNFIT CRIMINAL ExPOTUS and sex abuser and LIAR running for "presidency". Arrogant ignorants!!
First, the definition of a drug lord is a criminal organization that controls the promotion and distribution of narcotic drugs. But what is happening is selling opium extract is legal in both UK and the Qing. So your statement is untenable.
You forgot to mention the other side of the trade equation. Canton trading would not open its markets to any foreign goods and would only sell its goods (primarily tea) in exchange for silver. Since the British were trading a non renewable resource (silver) for a renewable resource (tea) each transaction became increasingly expensive and had a price ripple impact on all commodities. This situation does not excuse the British from flooding the Chinese market with an addictive intoxicant. However, If the Chinese had opened their markets and not set up such a large trade imbalance things might have proceeded differently.
Well, this is general corporate business practice, those who have the goods in demand can state the terms. No one forces anyone to trade with China.
@@HDsharp Very true but an imbalance practice does force the hand of states. This is why big trade imbalances can be a big problem. Still, forcing a trade partner to exchange nonrenewable resource with a renewable resource only exasperates the situation.
Nothing justifies brutish evil crimes. China is back and has promised never again become slaves.
@eQuilibrium 2 excellent analogy. Moreover , note that China made it illegal to trade in opium before destroying them. So technically the British violated Chinese law and should not have any right to ask for compensation of the destroyed opium. They should count themselves lucky they need not pay any fine.
Yes. Tea for opium.......victim blaming? Silver for drugs......huh?
What happened to China in the past 200 years was bad, but there's some good that came out of it, it made them realize the needed to modernize and become strong once again.
Thanks for your channel showing detailed account and excellent illustrations of the Opium war. My only comment is the title of this video should be changed from Anglo Chinese war to Invasion of British opium trade war with China. The former implies China had played active part to provoke and/or conquer the British territory resulting a war which in fact China had always been in a passive role and a huge victim of this humiliated historical event. Just as when a man rapes a woman by force, you wouldn't call the event The fight between the couple.
I disagree you describe the First "Opium" War as a man r*pes a woman by force, because the Qing Dynasty and the British were not couple, they were independent individuals fighting for their own interests. The only difference between them is that one is advanced and the other is backward, vice versa.
@@vapaus831 Qing government "allowed" opium trade with the British under the threat of gun boats, do you call that "voluntary fair trade"? Or "coerced agreement"? Good try but try harder next time 😊
@@vapaus831I know what you are saying. Qing government was not the shrewdest at the time, and was well known of making numerous wrong decisions politically. Nonetheless, no matter how hard one tries to justify and white wash the Opium wars on behalf of the British opium merchants, the fact was the Chinese citizens (especially young men) were the sole victims as a result from such trade and the British opium merchants were flagrant perpetrators from such immoral acts.
The following extracts are from the debate scripts delivered by Hon. Mr J W Pease in the House of Parliament held in 4 June 1880, even they couldn't face the term of their actions which were against their religious beliefs....
"Although the Chinese were undoubtedly guilty of much absurd phraseology, of no little ostentatious pride, and of some excess, justice, in my opinion, is with them; and whilst they, the Pagans, the semi-civilized barbarians, have it on their side, we, the enlightened and civilized Christians, are pursuing objects at variance both with justice and religion."
...
"The revenue from opium is not to be counted upon like the revenue from land, or like that from salt, which, be it objectionable or not, is under our control. The opium revenue we may accept with more or loss compunction and regret as ministering to our present necessity; but we have no right to reckon upon its full continuance."-[3Hansard,ccxlvi. 1744.]
....
Again, in a letter written this year the right hon. Gentleman said-
"I have witnessed three wars in China. The two first of these wars were directly connected with the opium traffic, and grew out of it; and I was among the most earnest and, I may say, the most determined opponents of both those wars."
hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1880-06-04/debates/b53a59e8-4235-47f9-beec-31da92fdfbf4/TheOpiumTrade%E2%80%94Observations
@@vapaus831 according to the Wikipedia...
By that time, China had lost two wars over opium to “barbarians” from Europe, and its “celestial court” was fatally weakened. A whopping 13.5 million Chinese, out of an estimated population of 400 million, were hooked on opium, including 27 percent of the country's male population.
That's about 60% of the then UK population (22. 5m) hooked on opium. When the bread winner in a family addicted to dope, the whole family structure often collapses with it, eg domestic violence, thefts, sharp decline in the GDP etc. Say average family of 4, you are talking about 54 m people were adversely affected by this opium trade. This was a rather conservative estimate. Anyway, do you call that serious? Would you say China was badly damaged from the Opium wars? I would.
@@vapaus831 If I quoted the Harvard art museums data, the figure is even more staggering...
In spite of repeated bans, it is estimated that as many as 40 million people-or 10 percent of China’s population-were addicted by the end of the 19th century. For many, addiction would eventually lead to destitution and even premature death.
Your efforts of trying to wriggle out British Opium traders' iniquities is blatant yet futile. No matter how hard you attempt to downplay and chew with words like 'addict' only shows more of their imperial evil intentions and greed garnished around it with your naivity. It's what it's. Face the reality like a man, that way, you still earn some residual respect, otherwise, you are wasting my time.
What a good documentary
Thanks!
What a worst documentary.
Rule Britannia, Britannia rules the waves 🎉
B in Britain stands for barbarians
Do you know what month and year the British soldiers got back after the war to England? I'm writing a book that involves the war and I'm having trouble finding out when they came back.
They probably didn’t arrive back all at once, many were stationed in India, Singapore and Australia. Those ships which took part in the sea battles didn’t go back until some ten years later. If any of the units were shifted back home immediately, the sail took between six and nine months depending on wind conditions.
Lux Beralis's answer is spot on :)
@@luxborealis yea I thought so. Thank you so much!
We the Chinese people swear to repay this debt if a war ever broke out between China and the West again! Every bit if it! 100 years of humiliations LEST WE FORGET!
So why don’t the Qing develope more advanced technology? This is also a country's responsibility.
@@vapaus831 It was the Ming Dynasty that closed China off to the world in the 14th century cos we didn't know any better back then of just how evil and cruel those westerners were.
@@vapaus831 We certainly don't blame the current generations for past crimes but if war breaks out now then we will demand that the matter be settled once and for all.
@@namelesswarrior4760 What do you mean by "current generation"
@@namelesswarrior4760 "It was the Ming Dynasty that closed China off to the world in the 14th century" Then I don't understand why China didn't open it up even in the Qing Dynasty. If China don’t even understand the trade rules, there is no need for others to respect China.
Nice video!
Cheers !
Moral of the story : Horde Weapons not Silver
AWESOME
As an Englishman I have to say that, as proud as I am of the British Empire, it has to be said that the British East India Company were responsible for many conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 19th century, largely due to their greed, arrogance and disrespect for foreign cultures and customs. This is mostly why Queen Victoria finally disbanded and ended the company's authority in the mid 19th century. They were starting to give us a bad name. Oh btw I'm loving the English war theme from Civ V used in this documentary. 👍
I think the East Indian company acted like Hitler and the Natzis, The British government should apologise for the acts of aggression against China
@@britannia55 Different times, and yes we did treat China very badly. I am somebody who will always defend the British Empire and the good it did, but this particular chapter of our history is pretty indefensible. It is perhaps not very surprising that the Chinese developed a deep mistrust of foreign outsiders
@Dord Dord well said,
@dorddord8634not true, anyway, so many other nations have had horrrible slave trades in the past.
The British Empire isn't really something to be hugely proud of though, is it.
Respect from Persia
Aftermath of the story:opium plantation got popular around China in the coming decades and opium even became kind of currency in some erea.
My grandmother was in the PLA matching for southwest provinces in 1949 .The military officers sent everyone of them some opium for medical usage as well as currency to buy food from the local.Of course,even communist party was involved in this "special goods"business.
Fascinating, thanks for the anecdote !
Many warlords, like Zhang Zongchang and Liu Cunhui, paid their troops almost exclusively in opium due to the devaluation of the Yuan and the difficulty of obtaining foreign currency in sufficient amounts.
The British used rum as a currency in the early /later colony of NSW and paid the convicts, prisoners and others their rations, wages in rum. So this is just another form/example of British oppression using opium of keeping the colonized/captured people in order/under control."
@@rosebud4387 The Americans sold far more Opium to the Chinese (via Turkey) than the Brits ever did.
@@SerBallister That I doubt.
Do you have more specific details and proof?
There was probably nothing Elliott could have done to prevent the war -- Palmerston wanted a war to force expanded trade and would or could use any provokation to justify it. In 1846 he wrote "Wherever British subjects are placed in danger thither a British Ship of War out to be ... to remain as long as ... may be required for the protection of British interests." That is to say, wait for British traders or sailors to run afoul of local laws and put themselves in danger and then use that as justification to send a military force to force more favourable conditions for British trade.
There were indeed many people who pushed for a war to break out. William Jardine, one of the biggest opium dealers is another example. He personally went to Palmerston in London to persuade him of launching a military response
Yup and NATO still does exactly this eg Ukraine.
@@crhu319 Russia started the war you stupid bot.
No wonder West invaded many countries
Are you Chinese? Cause I noticed you pronounce Chinese names rather fluently.
Thanks! I'm not Chinese though :)
You seem like someone who is well-versed in the Chinese language and history (at least 19th century)... Footage of old photos, Chinese texts and some movie clips bring history to life. Superb channel!
@@davidchang9228 "Superb channel"? who is not telling the whole truth.
Who are those guys in headbands on the the bottom right at 0:55?
I'm not entierly sure, but I think they are Malay traders
It's too painful to watch history of a civilization plundered of its culture, economy and values . Can't see after 12:29..
Btw, It's not an "irreversible " shift of power to west. Power now is in the east.. shifting more and more eastward with each passing year.. plunderers have had enough of global dominance.
Yeah but colonialism has both a good and bad effects the knowledge we have from the internet witch was built on the industrial revolution a large chunk of the world isn’t living in slavery anymore or living poor even in China life has gotten better for the common person(economically) at the same time colonialism takes conquest of another persons land but I would argue it did have a more positive effect than negative affect because we have all this modern technology today and A higher standard of living worldwide.
@@Caligulashorse1453 hahaha hahaha hahaha... really!!! It is the General in your name that gives it away
@@guilmarperez4674 I mean yeah what’s wrong with that
@@Caligulashorse1453 there is plenty wrong with that! Look at India? Africa? Latin and Central America? Philippines? The Middle East? Great improvements Colonialism has given them!!!
@@guilmarperez4674 well without the British modern United India wouldn’t have been made making them the powerhouse they are today Middle East was a mess before the Europeans ask anyone they will tell you that. The Philippines are quite prosperous compared to many of their neighbors and extremely friendly people Latin America and Africa declared its own Independence causing corrupt individuals to get in control especially in places like Mexico and Drc.
I just find it maddening; how the EITC were already causing havoc in India for years before this (Bengal Famine in 1770 and countless other things) and Britain makes out like they're a "Private Company" and don't represent the crown etc. Yet as soon as all this happens in China (a country that Britain also didn't own!) the military gets involved. Am I missing something or is that just REALLY screwed up and contradictory?
Without the Brits, Hong Kong would be just an empty island. Proud Hong Kongers here! 🇬🇧🇭🇰
@abra HAM HK is more important
Yep, on the other hand, the whole China was in turbulence.
So you hker praise Uk, the rest of China blame Uk.
The original complaint -- the importation & sale of opium -- seems to have gotten lost by 1841?
That’s because the British government didn’t give a hoot about the opium, they just wanted to open the Chinese ports so they could trade via barter rather than in silver. Silver was the key element in the wars, not opium. The opium was just a convenient excuse.
The British rushed into China to take over the country and the French, Germans, Belgiums, Russians and Americans etc etc followed very quickly to get their slice of the pie of China and divide it up into their own areas and rip as much wealth etc as they could out of China . The British and Americans smashed an irreplaceable treasure the most magnificent palace in the world at the time the summer palace , just to teach the Chinese a lesson.
They looted the palace smashed it beyond repair, worse than any Vikings could, and took thousands of valuable treasures back to their own countries it was outright wanton vandalism and theft. To this day they the western thieves still hang onto these priceless treasures or put them up for auction to make unbelievable profit. Was this all necessary to for their "opium trade" and need to wage war on China and take over someone else country?Because they did not want to part with their own silver and trade ethically?!
Mexican mafia: I can fight the police and the army with american weapons. I control whole cities.
Honorable BEIC: Well done, sweet child, well done.
How come the Opium Wars is never attached to the Nword Slave Trade?